


Cooking 101

by kindofdanceit



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cooking school, Cooking, Fluff, M/M, New York Rangers, Past Rangers and feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 16:49:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4572159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindofdanceit/pseuds/kindofdanceit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“That one is free” the kid says pointing to the table on his right. Henrik nods and sets up shop. Well, kind of. The table is full of various things, all of which Henrik can name, thank you very much.</p><p>“Er...any idea what we’re making?” Henrik asks, picking up and putting back down various ingredients. </p><p>“Looks like stir fry” the guy says laughingly and Henrik would answer but he also feels like he should have figured that much, dammit!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cooking 101

**Author's Note:**

> This is an older piece I wrote for [waywardrenegade](http://archiveofourown.org/users/waywardrenegade) earlier this year. That's why there are some ex Rangers in here but also some of those pairing just stick with you so....:P. 
> 
> This is my first full and real Henrik/Marc fic so please be gentle :). 
> 
> A special thank you goes to [tictactoews](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tictactoews/pseuds/tictactoews) for the beta.

“I know it’s not my place to say this, Mr. Lundqvist” one of the the guys who came to save his kitchen - and if he’s honest, the whole place - says sheepishly. “But you might want to consider taking some cooking lessons.”

Henrik cringes; he knows he’s horrible but he’s not THAT bad. Everything gets better with some practice, right? Those thoughts must show on his face clear as day, because the guy gives him a sympathetic smile and backs it all up saying “It’s the fourth time I’m here. In six months. Not that you’re not nice or anything.” 

“Yeah” Henrik exhales, really disappointed.

He thanks his saviours and as soon as they leave he picks up his laptop and starts randomly looking at cooking classes.

He doesn’t know what exactly he’s looking for, or what he wants in particular, but he doesn’t want to learn this from a five star chef, he like his fingers way too much to cut them up because of nerves. Nor does he want to go to some random person’s home kitchen. He likes being alive and healthy too, thank you very much.

Somehow he ends up on a really nice looking website with really homey looking pictures of the owner’s meals. And they come with really detailed recipes.

“Where were you three days ago?” he puffs angrily. This guy could have saved him a lot of money, instead he’ll cost him some more. Henrik’s eyes land on a post from a few hours ago that says that there are still three free spots for the Friday evening beginners class.

Henrik tries to roll his eyes and looks for links to an intermediate class or something, but then his eyes land on his new kitchen. So he clicks fast and signs up for it before he closes the laptop and walks away from it like it’s to blame for all the world’s problems.

 

*

 

So that’s how Henrik finds himself at a cooking class on a Friday evening. That is so many shades of pathetic….

The classes take place in a real cooking school, apparently, because on his way to his own class/kitchen he smelled quite a few delicious aromas.

The room for the beginners class is smaller than Henrik’s imagined, so he immediately feels better and worse about it. After he takes a breath Henrik takes a moment to look around the room. There are only a few people around, mostly guys, like it was an island of exiled horrible cook boyfriends.

Henrik takes a few steps inside the room and tries to find an empty table. Which is harder than it seems since apparently everyone here came in groups or pairs. Ugh!

The guy in the front row of tables plays around with a yellow bell pepper and smiles warmly at him. Henrik smiles back and looks around at the two empty tables on either side of the lanky kid and walks towards him.

“That one is free” the kid says pointing to the table on his right. Henrik nods and sets up shop. Well, kind of. The table is full of various things, all of which Henrik can name, thank you very much.

“Er...any idea what we’re making?” Henrik asks, picking up and putting back down various ingredients. 

“Looks like stir fry” the guy says laughingly and Henrik would answer but he also feels like he should have figured that much, dammit!

“That bad?” the guy asks and Henrik’s eye snap up, like, screw this guy - he’s not the ultimate lost cause, but before he can even react accordingly a voice behind him shoots an even more mocking “play nice, babe”.

The new guy, tall, muscly, and with a smirk to match, makes his way past Henrik and to the other empty table.

“Excuse this one, he forgot his table manners. I’m Chris” the guy says reaching out to Henrik “Henrik” he says shaking his hand and eyeing the other guy.

“Cam. Sorry for being an ass.” The other guy says with a goofy grin. “So what brings you here? You don’t look like a beginner.” Cam asks and Henrik just snorts. 

“Just cook like one” he throws out. “What about you guys?”

Cam sighs longsufferingly and gives Henrik this look. “His mother thought we’d starve to death or die of a kitchen related injury” he says rolling his eyes “and this one thought it would make for a great date night activity. So TA DA!” he finishes looking all fond and adorable, it makes Henrik’s stomach do some funny things. “Better than exploding pans on date night” he offers, and they all laugh.

Everyone is talking about cooking disasters and disappointed mothers when the teacher comes in. And maybe he should have done a little research on the guy, because wow. The guy is tall and ginger, with this smirk-like smile. And the tight navy shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, does nothing to help Henrik. It’s gonna be a long ten weeks…

“Hey” they guy waves kind of awkwardly at the room in general “I’m Marc and I’m gonna try to help you survive on your own in the kitchen.” The guy says with a smirk and receives a round of laugh-groans which, judging by his laughter, was exactly what he was aiming for. Henrik thinks he might be kind of screwed.

Marc starts off by telling them what they will learn and what they should know by the end of the course, and apparently there will be homework, because Henrik is fifteen years old again.

They’re indeed starting with a stir fry, which gets some silly yell-jokes from a guy at the back of the room called Dan, that apparently Marc knows. Huh.

Marc starts out by showing them how to chop and cut different things and then starts walking around to give tips and prevent accidents. Henrik can hear Marc calling different names and giving them instructions.

The Dan guy keeps cutting everything in different shapes which only makes Marc laugh and give him a new basket of veggies, much to the guy’s disappointment.

Ryan is focused and doing things perfectly. “Awesome, Ryan, those are some really pretty slices.” 

Ugh, screw you, man!

Before he knows it the voice comes from above him and is telling the dorks on his left to “eat less, chop more” in a very amused voice.

“You’re clutching the poor knife with a death grip” Marc says looking over his shoulder. “Relax your grip, helps maneuver the knife easier,” Marc tells him before he takes his right hand and relaxes the grip on each of his fingers. “There, just like that,” Marc whispers dangerously close to his ear.

“Now try again” Marc tells him and offers him another bell pepper. Yeah. Henrik is definitely fifteen years old, again, and so screwed.

At the end of the class Henrik has a slightly burned chicken stir fry and a cramp in his right hand.

“It was a good first try. At least yours didn’t caught fire.” Marc tells him at the end of the class. HA,1-0, Ryan!

“See you next Friday, and don’t forget to practice. Careful with that grip.” Marc tells him around a grin when Henrik is leaving the room. 

Henrik so needs a strong grip. On himself.

 

*

“So,” Brandon asks bursting his way into Henrik's apartment, “what are you burning tonight?” he continues by plopping himself in one of the barstools, eyes roaming all over the new kitchen.

“Brandon! Behave!” Brian shouts at him while making his way inside, like a normal human, Henrik might add. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, we all know we’ll have to call for takeout in like half an hour.”  
Henrik just huffs and goes back to the wok on the stove. It all looks good, for now. Brian cuffs Brandon upside the head on his way in the kitchen and goes to stand behind Henrik, looking at the food over his shoulder. 

“Looks good, smells better” Brian offers with a smile and Brandon gives him a double thumbs up, like an asshole. “Might want to to shake it lightly from time to time, though” he adds as an afterthought. 

“That’s what he said,” Brandon says around a fake cough.

“Oh my God! Why am I friends with you?” “Brandon!” both men say at the same time around groans to which Brandon only laughs like an asshole. 

“Hope you fall and break your ass” Henrik says, mostly, under his breath and Brandon squeaks. 

“Jesus, you both need to behave before I start throwing ice cubes at your faces.” Brian warns and is welcomed with horrified “not the face!” looks.

Henrik manages to cook a 90% good stir fry (“Shut up! Baby steps. At least I’m not a kept man, Brandon”) for the three of them to go with the wine Brian picked. And they almost finish the night before Brian asks him about the cooking classes. 

“Just a cooking class, you know,” Henrik adds with a shrug. They know it pains him to not be as good at this as he is at everything else, which is why he’s tried so hard and failed so miserably on his own.

“Hey, just stick to it, ok?” Brian says sympathetically. “It will pay off in the end,” he finishes with a smile. 

“That is all nice and what not, but how’s the prof?” Brandon asks with an eyebrow wiggle and Henrik groans and throws Brian an “out of all the single guys in NY you picked THIS one?” look.

“He’s a really nice guy with a lot of patience, which he really needs considering the level of the class,” Henrik says, playing with his watch.

“A guy, eh? Does he have a nice ass? What’s his name? Does he have big hands?” Brandon tries fishing for information and Henrik kind of gets lost in his thoughts trying to describe Marc without blurting his brand new fantasy of kitchen sex.

He doesn’t realize just how many things were going on on his face until he walks them to the door at the end of the evening and Brian hugs him good-bye and wishes him good luck with a look that says more than “good luck with your next dish”. Henrik just nods and thanks him.

 

*

The next Friday Henrik is early so he decides to pop in the coffee shop next door and grab a coffee. He’s waiting patiently for his drink, reading some random newspaper’s front page, when someone starts calling his name.

Henrik turns around and is met with a smiling and waving guy coming his way. It’s one of the guys from the class. “Dan, hey” Henrik tries and hopes he wasn’t too distracted last week and didn’t get this guy’s name wrong. 

“Hey man, what’s up?” Dan says shaking his hand. “Trying to shake nevers with coffee?” Dan asks and Henrik would protest but the guy looks like he gets that from experience.  
So they sit down with their coffees and pass 20 minutes talking about the first class and practicing over the last week. Which makes Henrik feel like an overnight genius because apparently one of the bell peppers Dan was frying jumped out of the wok and attacked his boyfriend. At least Henrik’s friends got a meal out his him practicing.

“You should come over and cook with me one evening,” Dan says as they laugh about their “skills” all the way into class. “Show Ryan I’m not the only lost hope in New York,” he adds. 

“Hey, my peppers never tried to kill anyone!” Henrik tries to defend his honor around a laugh and when he looks up, Marc is laughing too. Whether at or with them is to be determined.

“Evening, gentlemen” Marc greets them with a grin. “Heard about your...dinner, Dan. Impressive skills, even if Cally might disagree.” They all laugh and Dan flips them off and walks to the back of the room and to his table. Henrik takes his spot at his table and is welcomed by Cam with blinding smiles and winks. Kids, man…

*

They make a soup that evening and not to get too cocky too soon, but Henrik totally rocked it. Especially if Marc humming around a spoonful of it is any indication. “Very good job, Henrik. Keep at it.” Henrik stares after Marc as he makes his way to the back of the room and sees Dan double thumbs up-ing him. So that’s a thing now.

*

“So, you should come over tomorrow evening and help me prove my boyfriend wrong,” Dan says as he catches up with Henrik after the class. “You know, cook something semi-fancy,” Dan continues when Henrik only looks confused. 

“Oh yeah, ok, I could do that”.

“Perfect. Pick a dish, I’ll pick one and we’ll cook the non-believers a great dinner. Here’s my address, see you at seven tomorrow.” Dan says handing him a piece of paper and leaving with a wave good-bye.

*

Come to think of it Henrik shouldn’t have been surprised that Marc was the one to answer Dan’s door. They were obviously friends and Dan did say “non-believers”. Plural. Ugh…

“Henrik,” Marc says around a grin and nods for Henrik to come in. Henrik just nods back and mumbles a “Marc” under his breath. At the same time a shout comes from the kitchen “if it’s Henrik send him to the kitchen.”

“Kitchen’s that way,” Marc says and Henrik just raises an eyebrow. “I’m banned from the kitchen, so if any peppers stage a mutiny just shout,” Marc says like it’s the funniest thing. Henrik feels offended and that’s not even his story.

“So I have to impress Marc on my free time, too, now?” Henrik says as a way of greeting and ok, maybe that could have been better worded if the look on Dan’s face and the eyeroll are anything to go by. “Whatever, what are you cooking?” Henrik says trying to cover his shame.

They set to work side by side, Dan making a soup and Henrik preparing some salmon with rice and teriyaki sauce.

“Dan, you might want to step back in here,” Henrik shouts after him “pretty sure the soup shouldn’t smell like that.” There’s some shuffling and stirring and then he can hear Marc say “mutiny stopped” while gloating and Henrik can’t stop his eye roll.  
“How’s the salmon? You gonna choke me up with bones?” Marc asks standing way too close. 

“Would like to choke you with something else” Henrik thinks and flushes hard. He wiggles away from Marc and to the sink to needlessly wash his hands. “All nice and boneless” Henrik says and turns around in time to catch Marc’s smirk. 

“We’ll see”.

 

The rest of the night goes by flawlessly, Ryan looks pretty smitten with Dan right now and Henrik is relaxing with a glass of wine after feeding four people, so he’s calling it a win. Especially with Marc sitting really close to him on the couch. If he knew he would’ve signed up earlier for the class.

*

Cooking with Dan for various friends, and for Brandon and Brian on his own, becomes a thing. It’s his turn to host the dinner for his new friends and Kevin texted both Dan and him “please, no more store bought desserts!” earlier that week. So Henrik is in the middle of testing his chocolate cake making skills when his phone rings.

Henrik curses and tries to juggle whisking eggs and handling his phone so he doesn’t check the name on the screen. “Yes” he answers with more attitude than necessary. 

“I was thinking about teaching you guys how to make a cheese souffle. What do you think about that?” Marc says instead of hello. Henrik stops and just stares at the eggs in the bowl in front of him. “I can barely make a chocolate cake and you want me to make a souffle? I did not sign up for this kind of stress.” Henrik lets out on an exhale and Marc just laughs at him. “Screw you, we’re not all geniuses in the kitchen,” Henrik says with too much force because the next thing he hears is Marc scrambling and apologizing, asking Henrik not to hang up on him.

Henrik takes a breath and listens to Marc giving him tips and pointers about how to make a really good cake. “Hey, you can add some red wine to the mixture as well,” Marc says lightly.

They stay like that, Marc on speakerphone and Henrik moving around the kitchen with confidence, all the way through the recipe and up until the cake is cold enough for Henrik to cut a piece, put some cream on it and try it out.

“Holy crap,” Henrik says around a moan. “This is really good,” Henrik says in awe, and Marc makes this confident and pleased sound, praising Henrik. “You should try it out, it’s probably the best thing I’ve made by far,” Henrik says and Marc adds without missing a beat. “Text me the address, I’ll be there as soon as possible.” Henrik swallows around the lump in his throat and texts Marc his address.

Twenty minutes later there’s a knock on his door and Marc is on Henrik’s doorstep.  
As soon as Marc is inside Henrik tries to open his mouth to invite Marc to have some cake and wine but Marc grabs his shirt and pulls him in for a kiss.

And that kiss is so much better than that cake. Marc’s hands travel all over Henrik’s body and stop at cradling his head and licking at the taste of chocolate in Henrik’s mouth.

“Mmm...that sure tastes good,” Marc says pulling away and they both start laughing. 

“If I knew this is all it took I would have made a cake the day after the first class,” Henrik says and Marc lets out a full hearted laugh. “So, so ambitious,” Marc says and starts pushing Henrik towards a bed or a couch. Whatever helps him get Marc naked asap. 

*

They fall into bed together and catch up on all the lost time, if you ask Henrik. So it’s a really good thing he prepared everything for the lunch last night because they’re woken up by loud bangs on the door.

Henrik groans and buries his head in Marc’s chest.

“Please tell me that’s not Dan’s voice at the door,” Marc groans and Henrik mumbles an apology.

“Hosting lunch here today, sorry.”

They throw on clothes at random and Marc goes to open the door while Henrik starts pulling things from the fridge.  
Dan tries to go for mocking or something but then he sees Marc opening the door and his eyes go huge. “Marc,” he nods and almost runs to find Henrik as everyone just laughs their faces off at him.

“Hope you know you’re sleeping with the the teacher, man,” Dan says punching Henrik in the shoulder. Henrik just laughs and winks at Marc over Dan’s shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Comments are very much appreciated :).
> 
> For fluffy feels, cooking stuff or for the recipe for that chocolate cake Henrik makes in the fic, as well as other random stuff, you can find me on [Tumblr](http://thisainttherapy.tumblr.com/).


End file.
